Pets of the past: Looking back at portrayals of pets in SLAM’s collection

Pets are a common part of many peoples’ lives. They appear frequently in SLAM’s holdings: playing and napping in works by professional and amateur artists alike. Continue reading to see how people have immortalized their furry friends in works dating back to the 1800s.

Vernacular photographs

Pets are especially visible in vernacular photos—photos captured by someone unknown and amateur, taking photos for personal reasons rather than to make fine art. Vernacular photos document a specific moment, regardless of the moment’s impact or importance to history. It is not necessary to know who took the photographs for the resulting images to be fascinating, amusing, or moving to the viewer. The photos pictured here capture the popular pairing of children and pets.

Paintings

Interior with Young Woman Tracing a Flower

A young woman traces a drawing of a tulip against a windowpane; her study lies discarded on the floor, and she has been distracted by her pet squirrel perched on an armchair nearby. This painting may be a self-portrait of the artist at work in her studio. The painting was awarded a gold medal at the 1824 Salon and was then acquired for the prestigious collection of the French aristocrat, the Duchesse de Berry. Squirrels were popular pets in the 1700s and 1800s. 

The Tenth Street Studio

Sumptuous tapestries, exotic metalwork, imported porcelains, fine art, and elegantly adorned patrons were sure to be found in the studios of artists at the end of the 19th century. This painting depicts the studio of its artist, William Merritt Chase, one of the most successful painters of the era. Appreciating—and being seen appreciating—such exquisite finery was an important cultural and social marker for both patron and artist. An invitation to a reception at Chase’s studio (sure to be in the society news) was the most sought after in New York City. In this image, a dog relaxes on the floor of the studio, a paw resting protectively on the dress of woman in a nearby chair.

This work is on view in Anheuser-Busch Foundation Gallery 335.

In Deep Thought

The Belgian painter Alfred Stevens was a good friend of Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas, and like both of those artists, he painted scenes of fashionable modern life. Here, a woman in an elegant pink dress looks out to sea while her straw hat and gloves lie on the table and her pet dog sits nearby. The scene takes place at the Norman port of Le Havre; steamboats, a sign of modernity, are visible in the distance.

This work is on view in Alice and Fred Conway Gallery 217.

Prints

Homage to the Un-Square and My Cat Frida

Enrique Chagoya’s cat Frida dashes across the room, away from a skeletal figure wearing an elaborate green dress. The figure’s ovaloid head, decorated with saturated red and yellow, represents a central Mexican underworld deity. With a toy in one hand and a cage in the other, the figure seems to be in pursuit of the cat.  

On the wall hangs a painting by 20th-century German American artist Josef Albers, known for his explorations of perception and color theory, which included a long-running series entitled Homage to the Square. In Chagoya’s scene of the “un-square,” Albers’s neatly composed yellow painting becomes a mere backdrop to the drama of the cat and otherworldly figure at play.